Pointy Stick - B(1), C(9), SL(10), RDD(10)
Bard 1 / Cleric 9 / Stormlord 10 / Red Dragon Disciple 10 by Steelsamurai 21:04, 19 June 2008 (UTC) Description Pointy Stick is a combat cleric build, and is currently an experimental second version. Version 1.0 is the current champion build of the Battle of the Builds module for Neverwinter Nights 2, and Version 2.0 is arguably much more powerful as it seals some of the weaknesses present in 1.0. Version 2.0 has beaten the Blood Scholar in 6 rounds though this is not a guaranteed result vs. this deadly build who remains the only mage in Battle of the Builds that Pointy Stick fears. This build is a melee fighter, using divine spellcasting for buffs and protection against arcane casters, featuring extremely high accuracy (+69 attack fully buffed), high defense (+72 AC fully buffed), and high damage output with Epic Divine Might. He is meant to be a universal fighter, fighting equally well vs. mages, fighters, and stealth, capable of defeating all comers with minimal weaknesses of his own. Advantages: * Very high attack (+67), and high defense (+72), makes him an all around excellent melee fighter. * Knockdown immunity from Stormlord and mind protection from Cleric give immunity to Bigby's Forceful Hand cast by evil/good aligned arcane spellcasters. * Large number of spell mantles prevent damaging attacks from arcane casters, as well as a secondary layer of defense vs. neutral arcane casters who can't be protected vs. alignment in case of Bigby's Forceful Hand. * Ability to cast Word of Faith allows for excellent and effective defense vs. Shadow Simulacrum. * All of the above make Pointy Stick a very well rounded fighter, able to defeat high level fighters and arcane casters including some thought previously unassailable. * Very high Charisma gives excellent additional damage from Epic Divine Might and high defensive bonuses from Divine Shield. * Additional bonus unresistable damage is dealt through Zalanthar spear (+1), Persistent Divine Favor (+4), Inspire Courage (+1) and Aura vs. Alignment (d6) as well as an additional 2d8 damage on critical hits (massive critical). (Pointy hits typically for scores around 60-80 vs. fully resistant opponents, and critical hits in the 200 range) * Build features no multiclass penalty. * Immune to Fire and Electricity as class delivered feats, this also allows for equipment slots to be devoted to regeneration rather than resistance, giving Pointy an unusually high rate of healing. * Improved Knockdown skill and high strength puts most other builds on their back, and victimizes spellcasters in general. * Access to extended Regeneration spells allows Pointy to heal himself 10% per round for a total of eight minutes, outside of equipment based regeneration. * Spot score of 33 plus Watchman's helm for best possible hide defense as a divine build. * Sleight of hand score of 29 allows for 95% retrieval of weapon in case of being disarmed, as a guarantee. * Persistent spell allows for permanent Divine Favor and Prayer, and alternately if Time domain is taken could allow for permanent Haste. * Backup shield allows for increased defense vs. surprise attack, and regeneration bonus, should a stealth build disarm and run with the weapon. Disadvantages: * Lack of a shield makes for lower defense than otherwise would be obtainable, this is a tradeoff for greater accuracy and damage output and one extra feat (Monkey Grip is required in order to use a shield for a spear wielder). * Low wisdom for a Cleric restricts spells until wisdom buffing can be found. * Medium-high stealth detection may give problems vs. top flight stealth builds. Pointy's stealth weakness is through low Listen scores and no access to arcane casting's buffs to Listen and Spot. * Dependence on Divine Shield for adequate defense means that after his number of Turn Undead attempts expires his defense will permanently drop to a much lower number. Character Creation Race: Human: going with human gives an extra feat which is desirable in this build, along with no multiclass penalty. *PVE note: Rock gnome with the deity Baervan Wildwanderer can also be a choice for this build, with a few modifications. Rock gnome gains +1 to ab + to ac, the +1 to ab negates the -2 STR which rock gnomes has, however it doesn't negate -1 damage (+1 ac -1 damage). since Rock gnomes start with 10 CON you have 1 extra attribute point which can help you negate the -1 skill point per level (Humans feat: Skilled), but you'll also need to drop one point from somewhere. Example: -1 CHA (3 extra attribute points +1=4), Essential: +2 INT. Optional: +2 DEX (negates the -1 ac) or +2 CON (+30 HP) or +2 WIS (starting with 3 effective casting levels without equipment). There is only one more change to make which is giving up a feat, i recommend giving up disarm. Summary of changes (With -1 CHA +2 DEX): +2 AC, -1 Damage, +17 HP, -1 CHA (-1/2 DM DS) -Feat: Disarm. ** clerics with the War domain with Baervan as a deity receive the monkey grip feat for free at their first level to allow Gnomes to wield a spear. Background: I take Devout for the +1 will save. Every nickel counts. Alignment: Chaotic Good. The benefit is that Paladin builds do not have the ability to Smite, at the drawback of having Protection vs. Good to fight against. Stats: Charisma is emphasized in this build, as it was intended he fight shieldless, and the high Charisma bonus allows for an effective defense based on Divine Shield as well as a large boost to damage output from Epic Divine Might. Key Feats: Divine Might, Epic Divine Might. Deity This build requires Lurue as Deity since the War domain is used to obtain the Weapon Focus: Spear feat, which is a requirement for Stormlord. Skills My template build calls for the following: Concentration 33, Lore 8 (required for RDD), Perform 3, Spellcraft 10, Spot 33, Tumble 31, Use Magic Device 20, and Sleight of Hand 29. Sleight of Hand is a key skill, allowing you to retrieve your weapon if you are disarmed and it is picked up by the enemy. A score of 29 means that you will roll 30 minimally, which implies a 95% chance of retrieval of your weapon vs. a hostile and alert enemy (the spot check only applies to whether they are alerted to your theft). A higher sleight of hand may be desirable when fighting Bards who will debuff skill points, and furthermore, Pointy's lack of shield is a major benefit as a shield will debuff Sleight of Hand checks considerably. Weapons Spear. Pointy Stick is a Stormlord and as such, this is his best weapon option by far. Spears do triple damage on critical hits, so Pointy is recommended to take a Keen, Zalanthar spear, with Vampiric regeneration, +8. No elemental damage is added because he will grant the spear Electical damage and Sonic damage with his Stormlord feats. Furthermore, the +1 magic damage from Zalanthar is not resistable and Keen importantly doubles the critical threat range of the spear. Spells The spell loadout is very important for play both by human and by AI. Recommended loadout is: * L0: Resistx6 * L1: Ent. Shieldx3, Blessx3, Protection from Alignmentx2 * L2: Aid, Lesser Rest.x4,Entropic Shield (ext), Silencex2 * L3: Blindsightx2, Prayer, Vigor, Remove Blind, Aid (ext), Silence (ext) * L4: L. Spell Mantlex4, Death Ward, Divine Power, Recitation * L5: Divine Power (ext)x3, Recitation (ext), Lesser SMx2, Energy Immunity, Battletide * L6: Battletide (ext)x2, Lesser SM(ext)x3, Stone Body * L7: WoFx6, Divine Favor(persis), Spell Mantle * L8: Regenerate, (ext) x3, Spell Mantle (ext) * L9: Persistent: Vigor, Prayer, Extended Aura vs. Align, Etherealness Key spells are Battletide, Regenerate and Divine Power. Divine Power counts for a +10 to-hit buff in this build. Regenerate plus his equipment regeneration heals enough to match the damage on par with a maximized missile storm from a L30 caster. Equipment For BotB, the specs on the equipment choices are: * Mithril Full Plate, +8 AC, 35HP, Regen+8 (important, no spell resistance) * Boots of Sun Soul, +5 AC, Reflex+9, Con+9, Dex+8 * Bracers of Armor +10 * Zalantar Spear +8, +7 Vamp, Keen * Adamantine Heavy Shield, +8, +35HP, +8 Regen (backup) * Cloak of Movement +8, Char+9, Cold/25 * Ring of Regeneration (+4), Cleric +7 * Ring of Regeneration (+4), Cleric +7 * Girdle of Holy Might, Str+9 * Natural Armor Amulet +5, Wis+9, Universal+7, Acid/40 * Watchman's Helm Why does Pointy Stick have no spell resistance you may ask? If he has spell resistance, then a shadow simulacrum of Pointy will also have spell resistance and resist Word of Faith, so in order to defend vs. this spell he has no spell resistance. It is possible to add the spell version of Spell Resistance to the default build if one wants to obtain SR in the heat of battle. In practice, his spell mantles will be sufficient for annoying low level casters, and the presence of spell breach and assay resistance mean that high level casters will overcome his SR. Character Progression Table Remember Lore score of 8 is required for RDD. Also remember you must be able to cast level 3 Divine Spells before you can select Stormlord, which requires more wisdom than your character will have without equipment. PVE Pointy Stick The Pointy Stick build can be easily retooled for use in PVE modules. In a PVE Module such as the official campaign, Slight of Hand could be dropped or lowered in lieu of a conversation skill, and Disarm could be replaced by a different feat -- perhaps Craft Magical Arms and Armor for enchanting items with Divine spells. In the upcoming Storm of Zehir expansion, the conversational and crafting skills could be spread amongst the other party members, leading to a mostly unchanged build. category:Character buildscategory:Power Buildscategory:Melee Character buildscategory:Divine Character buildscategory:Divine Spell Swords